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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24331465">Vivid</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winter_Moonlight/pseuds/Winter_Moonlight'>Winter_Moonlight</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Izumi/Leo Week [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 06:15:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,225</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24331465</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winter_Moonlight/pseuds/Winter_Moonlight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>IzuLeo Week 2020 - Day Three | Memories</p><p>A new start. Free of all of the black ink staining him. He hoped that was all it took. If not a model, he would make it as an idol. That was a promise to himself. Children or adults, neither would get in his way this time. He had the dancing background for this, his singing was all that needed fine tuning. Easy enough. He didn’t need to find the other half of his soul to make it in this world that was harsher than hell. He would prove that to them.<br/>And to himself.</p><p>“I don’t believe in any of this.”<br/>“But can’t we at least be friends?”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sena Izumi/Tsukinaga Leo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Izumi/Leo Week [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1768717</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Vivid</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The world was colorless.</p><p>That was all there was to it. Being a child trying to survive in the adult world was dreadful in ways that no one would imagine. In ways that was carefully covered up in pretty wrapping paper and hidden away in the box within its confines. Yet, no matter how beautiful the wrapping, all was lost in their monochrome world – blending together seamlessly with the other parcels carefully put together. Hiding in plain sight, a strategy meant for the history books and used for generations to come.</p><p>He, especially, was no exception to their follies.</p><p>A kid who messed up. A kid who has yet to find that one annoying little spark that every adult seemed to boast about over all else. A spark that he could not select himself, but fate or some invisible God he had never believed in chose for him. Even as he stared at his reflection in the mirror before him, he could not help but sneer at what it showed him. So what if his hair was grey?</p><p>And eyes a lighter shade of steel, and skin paling further than even that?</p><p>They expected the experience from that of even children who have barely stepped out into the real world and away from the arms of their parents. Most adults wouldn’t even gain the ability until well into their years walking the earth. But a model needed to know how to color coordinate, huh? Though that was likely just an excuse to throw in his face. Adults feeling inferior and threatened were nothing more than children themselves.</p><p>Pathetic.</p><p>But the crack in his heart still bled a sticky pool beneath his feet. They weren’t wrong in their words. He made the mistakes, after all. He was at fault; that instead of singing him praise, the adults bared their fangs and bit in deep.</p><p>A new start. Free of all of the black ink staining him. He hoped that was all it took. If not a model, he would make it as an idol. That was a promise to himself. Children or adults, neither would get in his way this time. He had the dancing background for this, his singing was all that needed fine tuning. Easy enough. He didn’t need to find the other half of his soul to make it in this world that was harsher than hell. He would prove that to them.</p><p>And to himself.</p><p>He was strong enough, wasn’t he?</p><p>Fixing the ash toned tie around his neck, Izumi took one last look at his face, grey eyes staring back at him emptily. He swallowed the lump growing in his throat and clenched his fists before pivoting on the balls of his feet and exiting his bedroom. It was his first day at Yumenosaki Academy. A school specializing in raising male idols; made for and by idols.</p><p>The swaying monochrome trees and near-white sky was the same as any other day. Nothing was special nor remarkable about it. Even as he took his first steps onto the academy grounds, he felt nothing more than the usual nervous pitter patter of his heart when walking into a new social environment. His eyes roamed the student body milling around. Every shade between vantablack and pure snow scuttled around animatedly; short and tall, stocky and lengthy, hideous and gorgeous. Still, no matter how long he stared, every person and object fell victim to his colorless world; becoming nothing more than things he has already seen before and have grown bored of.</p><p>But he didn’t need color to spark his world.</p><p>Thoughtlessly, he took one last sweep of the grounds with his eyes; the faces of his future rival idols blurring alongside the background with the swift motions. A head peaking out from just below the average height of the other students caught his attention; messy, medium shaded, slate colored hair disheveled with the breeze met his gaze. Fine features, as delicate as a girl’s, came into his sight. Sharp eyes the same intermediate shade as their hair color lock with his own light grey orbs.</p><p>A sharp buzz started from his eardrums and shot into his head like a lightning strike erupting from the ground and shaking the very earth.</p><p>Izumi jerked his head away, squinting his eyes as though the blindingly white sunlight reflecting off of the too shiny surface of the water in the fountain hurt his eyes. Feet stuttering with every step and stomach twisting within his body, he shifted away, blending further into the crowd of blue. He swallowed the nauseous feeling down drearily and made his way towards his homeroom.</p><p>After days spent in his room, opening and closing his eyes in desperation, Izumi found himself within one of the recording studios within the academy. He sung loudly. So loudly it was like he had no idea how tone-deaf he actually was. Forcibly, the notes came out of his mouth – as though through sheer willpower alone would make them sound correct.</p><p>The door was abruptly thrust open.</p><p>“Wahahaha! You have such a pretty face, but your singing is way out of tune! Hilarious! But your voice <em>is </em>pretty, so I’m sure you’ll get better with some training! I love it!”</p><p>Izumi scoffed, picking up a nearby chair and tossing it towards the intruder. “You’re that weird kid that keeps following me around. Quit it! I’ll report you for stalking! For real!”</p><p>“And you’re the kid that keeps running away from me!” The boy with bright green eyes fired back. “But that’s okay. I still love you~!”</p><p>His heart picked up speed, whether with anger or some fate bull crap, he didn’t care to identify it. “Love? You’re even more of an idiot than I thought you were. You don’t even know my name, stupid.”</p><p>“Mm!” The boy hummed, a wide grin on his face. His shoes echoed within the recording studio as they made contact with the ground. Orange colored hair bounced with each step as the small boy – both in frame and height – made his way closer. “I’m Leo Tsukinaga. My world was already pretty colorful with music swimming in the air, but thank you for making it vivid.”</p><p>He could feel the frown marring his face intensely, the muscles in his jaw tightening the longer he stared into the emerald eyes of his so-called soulmate named Leo Tsukinaga.</p><p>“I don’t believe in any of this.”</p><p>The smile on the boy’s face didn’t falter, though his eyes softened in ready acceptance. “But can’t we at least be friends?”</p><p>And their days went on. Leo teaching him how to sing, and he watching over Leo as the orange headed, green eyed boy ran wild. They became friends, just like Leo wanted; easily intertwining their lives together like they have known each other for years prior. Perhaps even too easily so. But he never believed in stuff like this, he never needed his world to be in color. If it was easy, it was because Leo didn’t get in his way.</p><p>Their first year together at Yumenosaki Academy went by as normally as an idol academy allowed. Their lazy seniors in Chess continuously took advantage of Leo, no matter how many times Izumi tried to warn his friend or veered Leo away from them. Yet, Leo walked that path, heedless of Izumi’s vague advices. Leo never heard him – never listened – and blindly raced forward against the spectral rays clouding his vision; only Leo’s own twisted thoughts and ideals guiding him through it all.</p><p>He never believed in stuff like this.</p><p>The moment he called Leo as Ou-sama was the moment the words seared into his heart, leaving it charred and blistered. His blood desperately tried to leak free, only to burn solid with the heat. Soulmates never meant that they would be compatible – as friends or as lovers. What ever happened to the freedom of choice? Of a person’s own will? Who was God or Fate to dictate what their relationships on Earth would be?</p><p>He never needed his world to be in color.</p><p>He was fine when his hair matched his eyes, and his skin matched the sky. He never felt empty for not being able to see the beautiful blue water of natural springs or the vivid green of Leo’s eyes. All he wanted was to become successful in the entertainment world, to have praises be sung in his direction and eyes full of envy drilled into his back. If he never knew this filled sensation in his chest and stayed in his monochrome world, he would never have stopped – time completely static – and looked on dreadfully as Leo disappeared into the black shadows alone.</p><p>Was it better to try and to fail or to not try at all?</p><p>He still didn’t know the answer – even as he fought with shattered swords and broken memories to keep the spark of color in his world alive and shining. Their Knights, barely breathing and hanging on by the skin of their teeth, had to survive. To remain the home that Leo created with his own two hands and provided nourishment for with his heart, Knights needed to exist. So that, one day, he could meet Leo again…</p><p>However, the answer to his question remained stuck in his throat like super glue, refusing to come free. His injured heart hid behind thorny walls, the aftermath of their war leaving it shredded and raw. It would never be strong enough to see the vivid light of the world again. Still, if Leo were to come back, things would be better this way. If he hid away his soul, the cause of all of their troubles, then Leo’s could finally be free.</p><p>However, he never expected their reunion to be filled with more bloodshed. If Leo wanted to spear him entirely through his back, he wouldn’t have complained – deserved it, even; but his old friend desired to light their home on fire and send it to Hell himself. Neither of them came out unscathed from year past; he wished he could’ve at least saved one of them. If Leo lost the vivid colors he used to see even through monochrome, and the song birds he used to hear, Izumi would never forgive himself. He already didn’t. And he knew he would take the guilt to his grave as he stepped out onto the stage with Arashi and marked his certain death by the hands of Leo’s new soldiers. The new knights who, in name, would kill the originals.</p><p>If he were nothing but a sacrifice for the slim chance to save Leo, then so be it.</p><p>Knights’ studio remained dark that night after Judgement. He hung around in the black shadows, white starlight streaming in through the windows; mirroring the days before he entered this school. The days when monochrome shades weren’t stained in crimson and his heart never knowing the feeling of breathing easy.</p><p>The door behind him clicked open.</p><p>“I thought you’d be in here, Sena.”</p><p>“Oh?”</p><p>“Just a feeling. Deep inside.”</p><p>Izumi remained silent. Deep inside, he, too, knew that Leo was still hanging around. Even so, the superglue on his tongue remained strong, still. His old friend’s footsteps echoed between the four walls, getting closer and closer. Just like their first meeting, way back when.</p><p>“The newbie declared what he wanted from me.” Leo said evenly. He rested his elbows on the window sill, their clothing just barely brushing against each other’s with the proximity. “Do you have nothing to say?”</p><p>Midnight blue splashed the sky like watercolor seeping into liquid rivulets; stray clouds lazily drifting away with the breeze. Moonbeams begun illuminating the ground beneath the window, bathing it in its cool aura. The lingering cherry blossoms clinging onto the branches of the trees below glittered pastel pink in the ethereal lighting. Even the pale yellow of the dirt seemed brighter than it ever did in the daylight.</p><p>“You came back, Ou-sama?”</p><p>“I would never leave you forever.”</p><p>Days spent in silence became their norm from then on. Though their voices rang loudly in the ears of their onlookers as they continued to clash and scrape each other raw and bleeding, their hearts remained closed. Beyond self-repair. Silenced. Too afraid to break the last thread of what connected them, too afraid of losing the other for eternity, they walked as though land mines were buried beneath their feet. Reaching and reaching, they stretched out their hands – muscles shaking with the over extension – however, their fingers could never seem to touch.</p><p>Nonetheless, as that last thread helplessly hung vulnerable and ready to snap with the next breeze and mind one whisper away from falling into the solid, vantablack void that threatened to suffocate them with regrets and should haves, the shackles around their feet crumbled to dust. He swallowed his pride, he swallowed the bitter pill of weakness, and leapt forward. Their hands found each other, the warmth in their fingers seeping through their bodies like rushing lava and pulling them free of the cold waters of solitude.</p><p>He didn’t believe in any of this. He didn’t need his world to be in color.</p><p>But he didn’t want to live without it.</p><p> </p><p>Thin appendages slither against his back, pressing into his skin gently as they make their way across from one side to the other. They hook around his waist comfortingly, the arm that squishes between his body and the back of the couch curves his spine just a bit further, but he doesn’t voice his complaints. It isn’t so bad; he can endure a little discomfort in exchange for the warmth of the body that presses into his side. Their cheek lays against his chest, undoubtedly feeling the slight acceleration his heart takes on beneath their ear.</p><p>“What are you thinking of, Sena?”</p><p>“I was reading, what do you mean, Leo-kun?” He replies in the same soft tone that reaches his ears like the gentlest of ballads.</p><p>Leo chuckles, his chest vibrating between them familiarly. “My inspiration went away because my muse drifted into a different world, far, far away from me. And you haven’t turned the page in about fifteen minutes.”</p><p>Izumi sniffs, turning his head away indignantly. The motion causes Leo to look up and bite at his own lip to keep a smile from breaking out too strongly. The memories fade away, back to where they belong within their past. Quietness befalls the room they’re in; the kind of silence that allows him to take in the presence of Leo beside him effortlessly and ease any turmoil filling his mind. “It’s nothing really.”</p><p>“Nothing?”</p><p>Izumi turns back, brushing his lips to the apex of Leo’s forehead – a kiss so fleeting that one would wonder if it really happened. Leo’s shampoo drifts into his nose; the ever familiar, reassuring scent the only constant he ever needs. No matter what may change or what wars and battles they face, breaking sword after sword, if he could return home to this, he will face the colorful universe without fear.</p><p>“I would never leave you forever.” His breath bounces back against the skin of his lips.</p><p>The smile that spreads across Leo’s face is felt even through the real kiss Leo steals from him. “Write your own lines, thief.” Leo cuddles a little closer, moving his other hand to wind around the rest of Izumi’s body and join his fingers together at Izumi’s waist. Papers and pens tumble to the ground, clattering against the hardwood floor with sharp notes. “But I guess I don’t mind. What’s mine is yours, after all. Always has been, even back then.”</p><p>His azure eyes reflect back at him through Leo’s emerald orbs; faces so close together that he can see every emotion Leo’s soul emits with clarity. There are still things he doesn’t understand, still things that he needs to accept and allow into his world, no matter how painful and grueling; but the vivid world before them will never cease and never dim to monochrome shades. The other half of his soul is right in front of his eyes, showing him his favorite colors and discovering so many more.</p><p>Even if he is weak, he will no longer falter. He can become strong, with Leo there with him.</p><p>Izumi only hopes to be able to provide the same.</p><p>Leo, who’s world was already full of majesties and shining music notes, didn’t need his world to be in color or contrast. The same sceneries that blended into the cruel black and white background for him was only ever a door waiting to be opened for Leo. He longed for not the colors, but the feeling of inclusiveness. The feelings of wholeheartedly, without a doubt, belonging somewhere and having a place to call home.</p><p>Neither needed color in their world. But they welcome the after effects if it means they aren’t the only pieces standing on an empty chessboard.</p><p>Maybe it is what fate had in store for them, or maybe even plain, pure luck; it’s never a guarantee that soulmates truly got along, after all. But the turbulent times their mismatched outlooks on life turned into lessons that they both needed. Lessons that allowed them to grow to be more compassionate, understanding people for themselves, for each other, and for all of those they hold dear to their hearts.</p><p>“Hey, Leo-kun, let’s go out for dinner.”</p><p>“Hm?” Leo tilts his head, reluctantly separating his body from Izumi’s as he sits up. “Sure, I’ll go anywhere you take me, but where to, all of a sudden? Didn’t you say you wanted to stay in tonight?”</p><p>“Just feel like seeing the scenery.” Izumi shrugs. He closes his book with an airy clap, setting it on the coffee table in front of the couch.</p><p>The world that appears before his eyes as they step outside of his Florence apartment is filled with more sights and sounds than he can take in alone. The sky illuminates brightly with the setting sun, spearing the blue atmosphere with fiery orange strands and gradually changing it to the unique dusk sky – a sky that is never the same, no matter how many times it may occur within their lives.</p><p>Leo’s fingers slip between his as they walk, their combined warmth coming together and spilling into both of their bodies simultaneously. The people, the flora, the typical cityscape before them all vividly shine with more colors than they could ever imagine. But, day by day, they live and they experience; carefully memorizing each spectacle and storing it away into their memories, waiting to resurface and be reminisced upon once more later.</p><p>Since the moment they locked eyes, their world was splashed haphazardly with unknown colors waiting to be identified. Mysteries overwhelming them so wholly that they became disoriented in their wake. Though they walked their separate paths for a while, and the world looked grim, the colors never left their sides – shining so richly right before their eyes as though a reminder to the home waiting for them just at the end of their long journey through thorny paths.</p><p>With fingers interlocked within one another’s, the two of them make their way through the vivid world; any stray, monochrome pieces they may find along the way can be painted in together.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>VERY loosely kept to the theme this time ^^; Close enough.</p><p>Thank you for reading!!! If you would be so kind as to leave a kudos or comment, I would be very grateful~!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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